1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the production of entertainment content. More particularly, the present invention relates to the production of computer mediated interactive entertainment content.
2. Background Art
Improvements in the data processing capabilities of widely available personal computing devices, as well as to the communications infrastructure supporting wireless and wired data transmission, have now made it possible to provide computer-based content of astonishing richness. At the same time, the demographic of computer users has broadened and diversified to include a youthful population comfortable with technology, who increasingly turn to personal computing devices as a preferred source of information, entertainment, and even social networking. This demanding group of young computer users insists upon access to frequently updated content, and have progressively higher expectations for the sophistication of the computer mediated content available to them.
In an effort to make use of advances in data processing and data transfer technologies to meet these increasingly elevated user expectations, content providers have progressively moved away from use of the traditional Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) data format when producing computer based content. As a result, more and more computer content has been developed using data formats better enabling of the interactive, rich multimedia experience preferred by users, such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), for example. Use of these versatile data formats, together with embedded graphics applications such as Flash, for instance, have aided content providers in delivering the enhanced graphical information content demanded by users.
Despite their success in producing rich multimedia interactive content, however, the very richness and complexity of that content coupled with the volume of data typically provided in a typical Internet mediated download, presents content providers with a dilemma when attempting to deliver content to users in an enjoyable way. To illustrate the problem, consider the exemplary situation of a content provider delivering a rich multimedia interaction comprising content objects including video clips, audio presentations, and games to a user having accessed an Internet based entertainment website.
In one conventional approach to providing requested content, the various content objects, which may include a particular interactive gaming application, or a display application supporting a particular video presentation, for example, may be presented as links on the entertainment site homepage. An advantage to this approach may be that computing resources and display space on a personal computer screen are reserved for those particular content objects affirmatively selected by the user. A significant disadvantage of this approach, however, is that a user must typically endure a delay after making a selection, during which interval the application supporting that particular content object downloads, and/or launches, and displays. As the information content contained by any particular content object becomes richer and more complex, the delay associated with those operations may prove to be a source of considerable frustration for a user, particularly one seeking a relaxing or pleasurably diverting experience.
As an alternative, content providers might opt to cause all content objects contained within a selected rich multimedia interaction to concurrently download, launch, and display. This approach avoids or minimizes the post user selection delay plaguing the previous strategy. However, this approach exacts its own unpleasant toll in the form of content overload, wherein the proliferation of concurrently displayed content objects compete for the limited viewing space and the limited graphical computing resources available on a computer or mobile communication device screen. As a result, this approach may require a user to identify and close a number of unwanted active content objects in order to enjoy a particular desired content.
As may be apparent from the preceding discussion, both of the described conventional approaches to providing the variety of rich multimedia content demanded by computer users include drawbacks that may lead to user dissatisfaction, and in the process undermine the efforts of content providers to deliver computer based content in an enjoyable manner. Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a user friendly content management solution achieving efficient use of computing and display resources while enabling prompt access to desired content.